Astronomy 626: GALAXIES

Joshua Barnes -- Spring 2001

This course discusses the structure, stability, and dynamical evolution of galaxies. The goal is to interpret observational data on galaxies within a coherent theoretical framework.

Course Information

• Texts:
  • Galactic Dynamics by James Binney & Scott Tremaine
  • Galaxies in the Universe by Linda S. Sparke & John S. Gallagher
• Place: Institute for Astronomy, room C-221 (Fern Room)
• New time: Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:00 to 4:15.

Course Outline

• Galaxies
  1. Introduction     [01/11/01]
  2. Morphology & classification     [01/15/01]
  3. Properties of elliptical galaxies     [01/19/01]
  4. Properties of disk galaxies     [01/24/01]
  5. Populations & components of the Milky Way     [01/26/01]
  6. Chemical evolution     [01/30/01]
  7. Spectrophotometric evolution     [02/15/01]
• Mechanics
  8. Gravitational potentials     [02/18/01]
  9. Orbits     [02/20/01]
  10. Stellar-dynamical systems     [02/23/01]
  11. Collisionless N-body methods     [02/23/01]
• Spheroids
  12. Jeans theorem & applications     [02/28/01]
  13. Dispersion & mass profiles     [03/05/01]
  14. Rotation & velocity anisotropy     [03/07/01]
  15. Axisymmetric & triaxial models     [03/12/01]
• Disks
  16. Kinematics of the solar neighborhood     [03/16/01]
  17. Local stability of disk galaxies     [03/18/01]
  18. Theories of spiral structure     [04/02/01]
  19. The bar instability     [04/03/01]
  20. Warped disk galaxies
• Halos
  21. Halos of giant galaxies
  22. Halos of dwarf galaxies
• Transformations
  23. Tidal interactions
  24. Orbit decay
  25. Violent relaxation
• Dense Stellar Stystems
  26. Globular clusters
  27. Galactic nuclei
• Appendix A: Second-order dynamical systems     [02/15/01]
• Treecode Guide     [02/23/01]
• Bibliography     [04/03/01]

Assignments

• Homework 1: assigned 01/18/01; due 01/25/01.
  Answers to Homework 1.     [02/12/01]
• Homework 2: assigned 02/01/01; due 02/13/01. Also get the source code.
  Answers to Homework 2.     [02/27/01]
• Homework 3: assigned 02/23/01; due 03/01/01. Also get the source code.
• Homework 4: assigned 03/15/01; due 03/22/01.

Presentation

• Presentation guidelines     [03/22/01]